“Fasting without almsgiving is entirely without benefit…”

Each Lent, we are called to the penitential disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In the past, I’ve focused on fasting most of all, believing it to be the most important of the three. It seems my friends think the same way, as we share each year what we’re going to be “giving up” for Lent. And the call to prayer in Lent leads me to spend more time in Adoration, and includes more spiritual reading.

Alas, almsgiving usually gets short shrift.

Helping out in parish ministries to the poor caused me to reconsider the Church’s teaching on almsgiving. As a result, I learned that I had things completely upside down: of the three disciplines of Lent, almsgiving should be preeminent.

St. Jerome’s words are representative of the Fathers’ view: “Fasting without almsgiving is entirely without benefit; fasting with almsgiving is twice as good; but fasting without almsgiving is no good at all.”

I have also learned that few things bring more graces than almsgiving. St. John Chrysostom states that, “nothing is more useful than almsgiving…it procures life everlasting, and snatches us from the hands of death, and in either life shows us glorious, and builds the mansions that are in Heaven.”

So, I have learned that if we truly understood the graces that flow from almsgiving, there is no spiritual discipline we would pursue with more vigor. When we realize how true the words of Scripture are that tell us, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” almsgiving would be central to our spiritual lives during Lent.

What exactly are alms?

The Catechism defines almsgiving as “Money or goods given to the poor as an act of penance or fraternal charity. Almsgiving, together with prayer and fasting, are traditionally recommended to foster the state of interior penance.”

Alms can be either physical or spiritual. According to Aquinas, corporal acts of mercy include feeding the hungry; quenching the thirsty; sheltering the homeless; visiting the sick and imprisoned; burying the dead; and giving alms to the poor. Spiritual acts of mercy include counseling the doubtful; instructing the ignorant; admonishing sinners; comforting the sorrowful; forgiving injuries; bearing wrongs patiently; and praying for the living and the dead.

Of the two, spiritual alms are most vital, since these are concerned with a man’s soul and his eternal destiny.

The blessings of almsgiving

Though the command of Christ to “Give to everyone who begs from you” (Lk 6:30) should be sufficient motivation for us, Christ also promises to bless us in our giving: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back” (Lk 6:38). But what does that “good measure” look like?

From Scripture and the Fathers, here is a sample of the embarrassment of riches that God promises for those who give alms.

Almsgiving calls down God’s mercy on us:

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”— Matthew 5:7

“Love the poor, and through them you will find mercy.” — St. Isaac of Syria

Almsgiving brings God’s favor:

“One’s almsgiving is like a signet ring with the Lord, and he will keep a person’s kindness like the apple of his eye.” Sirach 17:22

Almsgiving covers a multitude of sins:

“As water extinguishes a blazing fire, so almsgiving atones for sin.”— Sirach 3:30

“Almsgiving therefore is a good thing, even as repentance from sin…For almsgiving lifts off the burden of sin.”— St. Clement

Almsgiving stores up treasures in heaven:

“Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” Luke 12:33

Almsgiving is like spiritual surgery, and helps us to hear God more clearly:

“Making use of this sacrificial knife [of almsgiving], cut out of your heart what is superfluous and does not belong there. Remove what interferes with your sense of hearing.”— St. John Chrysostom

Almsgiving brings God’s protection and love:

“God protects and loves the charitable and philanthropic person.” — St. John Chrysostom

Almsgiving delivers from spiritual death:

“For almsgiving delivers from death and keeps you from going into the Darkness.”— Tobit 4:10

“When able to do a work of charity, do not put it off; for almsgiving delivers from death.”— St. Polycarp

Almsgiving leads to a full life:

“Those who give alms will enjoy a full life.” Tobit 12:9

Almsgiving is a defense against the devil:

“And let us make a little chest for the poor at home; and near the place at which you stand praying, there let it be put: and as often as you enter in to pray, first deposit your alms, and then send up your prayer… if you have this little coffer, you have a defense against the devil, you give wings to your prayer, you make your house holy…And for this reason let the little coffer be placed also near the bed, and the night will not be troubled with fantasies.”— St. John Chrysostom

The temptations in almsgiving

In almsgiving, the chief temptation is vainglory, like those Pharisees in Our Lord’s day, who trumpeted their giving publicly. To this, Our Lord tells us to “not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing” (Mt 6:3-4).

St. John Cardinal Newman, however, acknowledges that “doubtless some of our charity must be public, for the very mentioning [of] our name encourages others to follow our example.” Yet Newman challenges us to make sure that our private almsgiving is equal to any we might allow to be published (and preferably more, he tells us), in order to avoid being like the Pharisees.

Another temptation is weighing the “worthiness” of those who seek our help. The Church Fathers urge us to err on the side of liberality. St. Clement of Alexandria says, “Do not judge who is worthy or who is unworthy.” St. Maximus the Confessor has similar advice: “He who gives alms in imitation of God does not discriminate between the wicked and the virtuous.”

Prudence must guide our almsgiving, naturally, particularly when our giving might risk feeding an addiction, but the Shepherd of Hermas echoes the Fathers above in telling us to “give to all”; it is the receiver who gives an account to God “why they received it, and to what end; for they that receive in distress shall not be judged, but they that receive by false pretense shall pay the penalty.”

Regarding the annoyance I sometimes feel towards the homeless, particularly when I have heard the same tale of woe again and again, the Fathers are clear where the deeper problem lies: within me.

St. John Chrysostom, a realist, knew that some who beg do so deceptively. In answer, he says, “Well, then, let him be especially pitied for this. For this reason particularly, let him be set free from want,” adding, “If you are unwilling to give to him, at least do not insult him…Think how he goes off, after being rebuffed: head bent low, grieving, because besides his poverty he has also received the blow of your affront.” This cuts deep—we are the ones lacking human dignity when we judge or rebuff the poor,

Finally, we must realize that though all of the good works of the Church are part of Her evangelical charism, we cannot be tempted to view our charitable work as proselytizing. “The needy person belongs to God,” says St. John Chrysostom, “whether he is pagan or Jewish. He deserves help even if he does not believe.”

Pope Benedict XVI wrote similarly in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est¸ “Those who practice charity in the Church’s name will never seek to impose the Church’s faith upon others. They realize that a pure and generous love is the best witness to the God in whom we believe and by whom we are driven to love.”

At its core, then, almsgiving is one of the chief means we have to bear witness to Christ’s own love, who freely gave his life for us and for our salvation. Indeed, it is this spirit of giving which inspired the Church to invent the hospital and so many other of Her charitable initiatives.

Inspired by our response to the gratuitous love of God, we give alms because we first received and, yet in the mysterious ways of Our Lord, in the giving, we receive far greater than we can ever give.

The queen of virtues

In closing, here is St. John Chrysostom again, which I share with the hope that his affection for this virtue might inspire us to love it as much as he:

Almsgiving is the queen of virtues—she quickly raises humans to heavenly vaults and she is the most excellent counselor: almsgiving is a great act! … Almsgiving soars over everything—it journeys through the air, across the moon, over the sun, reaches to Heaven itself; but it does not stop there–it stretches over Heaven too—soaring over the Angels and Archangels, over all Heavenly Powers and presents herself before the very Throne of the King of kings!